Sunday, November 7, 2010

Human TapestryGlen Kinoshita, Biola University

From the cityscapes of Kenya to the shores of Oahu to the farmlands of Indiana to the streets of urban Los Angeles, the documentary film Human Tapestry is a collection of different people from various walks of life telling their story. Consisting of four parts - student stories, personal narratives and spoken word poetry - these stories bring a collage of perspectives that display the diversity within our common humanity in the Kingdom of God. Consisting of four parts, Human Tapestry is a collection of stories from people of different cultural, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.

Plenary Speakers

Dr. Pete Menjares has been at Biola for 14 years and currently serves as Associate Provost for Diversity Leadership as well as Associate Professor of Education. In addition to his university responsibilities, Dr. Menjares, a Los Angeles native, remains committed to developing leadership for the next generation, educational advocacy, and in mobilizing the local church for community change. Prior to his position at Biola, he was a public school teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District where he taught for seven years in the City of Huntington Park.

Dr. Menjares earned a Ph.D. in Education with a specialization in Language, Literacy and Learning from the University of Southern California; a Master of Arts in Education with an emphasis in Curriculum and Teaching from California State University, Dominguez Hills; and a BA in Religion from Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, California.

Dr. Menjares was a founding member of the Council for Christian Colleges and University’s Commission for Advancing Intercultural Competencies and is a CCCU Leadership Development Institute Fellow. Dr. Menjares’ work in diversity and intercultural competencies in Christian higher education has led him to research, audit, consult, speak, and teach around the country.

His work in diversity and reconciliation resulted in Biola University being awarded the Robert and Susan Andringa Award for Advancing Racial Harmony by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, Washington, DC, in 2007.

In 2005, Dr. Menjares was awarded the Biola University Robert B. Fischer Award for Faculty Excellence, the highest honor awarded to a faculty member at the university.

Curtiss Paul DeYoung is a professor of reconciliation studies at Bethel University in St. Paul, MN. In addition, he served the university for six years in an administrative role as the special assistant to the president for reconciliation and community partnerships where he sought to creatively address sexism, racism, and other forms of institutionalized injustice. Curtiss DeYoung earned an EdD from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN, and an MDiv from Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, DC. Prior to his current position, he worked in urban multicultural settings in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

DeYoung has served as an author or editor for nine books including Coming Together in the 21st Century: The Bible’s Message in an Age of Diversity (Judson, 2009), Living Faith: How Faith Inspires Social Justice (Fortress, 2007), and, with Michael Emerson, George Yancey and Karen Chai Kim, United by Faith: The Multiracial Congregation as an Answer to the Problem of Race (Oxford, 2003).

DeYoung has the gift of bringing together leaders from diverse cultures, races, and social classes who share an active concern for the community.As a consultant, he facilitated the development of a network of religious leaders from a broad spectrum of faiths and a cross-section of racial/cultural groups for the largest social service agency in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He also coordinated a strategic reconciliation process in the Church of God (Anderson, IN) with church leaders from African American, Latino, Native American, and White constituencies. Through his work, he has traveled to Austria, South Africa, Palestine, Israel, Egypt, France, Guadeloupe, England, Thailand, Guatemala, and Switzerland.